Jurij
A Slavic name meaning "farmer", and a close cousin of Jerzy. Only around 500 men in Poland carry it, all of them male, so meeting one stays memorable.
Jurij Pronunciation
Jurij is pronounced YOO-reey (/ˈjurij/).
What Jurij means
Where Jurij comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jurij is the Slavic form of a name that traveled far. In Russian it belongs to soldiers and cosmonauts, to Yuri Gagarin above all, the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961. The root reaches back to the Greek Georgios, from words for earth and work, so the plain meaning is farmer, a tiller of the ground.
Polish speakers know its close relatives well. Jerzy is the variant most likely to appear on a birth certificate, while Jurek is the warm, everyday diminutive a friend might use.
The farming sense sits oddly beside the name's later fame. Saint George faced a dragon, and Gagarin left the planet, yet the etymology keeps its feet in the soil. On an urząd form the full Jurij looks formal. Say Jurek and it softens at once.
How many people are named Jurij
1 in 40352 men in Poland is named Jurij. 529 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1287 among male names.
Jurij's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Where Jurij is most popular
Jurij is most popular in Lower Silesian, 1275% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025).
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Lower Silesian2 boys born+1275%
Jurij as a middle name
Jurij is a first name for 529 men in Poland and a middle name for another 29, a 95/5 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1561st, between Iulian (29) and Ketut (29).
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#1559 Holger29
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#1560 Iulian29
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#1561 Jurij29
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#1562 Ketut29
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#1563 Kondrat29